Do you think it should be illegal to smoke around kids? I do. I do smoke occasionally, however I only ever do it out the window or outside. I never smoke around my children. My best friend smokes a lot, around her 2 year old (who has a heart problem)... She is my best friend but I feel strongly that this is wrong. It is exposing him to a lot of danger all because of her addiction. This is not fair, he has not made the choice to smoke- yet if you think about it, he smokes- indirectly.

The more second-hand smoke they inhaled the lower their scores - but even those with low-level exposure were affected.

Last night Amanda Sandford, of anti-smoking group ASH, said: "Many parents may simply not be aware of the harm they can cause by smoking, not just to their child's physical health but possibly to their mental development as well."

The study of 4,400 six to 16-year-olds at the Children's Environmental Health Centre in Cincinnati was published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Doctors measured exposure by looking at levels of cotinine, produced when nicotine is broken down by the body.

claire Wrote:Do you think it should be illegal to smoke around kids? I do. I do smoke occasionally, however I only ever do it out the window or outside. I never smoke around my children. My best friend smokes a lot, around her 2 year old (who has a heart problem)... She is my best friend but I feel strongly that this is wrong. It is exposing him to a lot of danger all because of her addiction. This is not fair, he has not made the choice to smoke- yet if you think about it, he smokes- indirectly.

What are your thoughts?

I do feel very strongly about this! I do think it should be illegal to smoke around children certainly in public places but you would never be able to make it totally illegal as a lot of smokers smoke in front of their children (and other peoples children) in their own home which would be impossible to police.

I have never smoked although my parents were heavy smokers and use to smoke around me as a child. If a smoker comes to my house, they have to smoke outside in the garden or in the shed (if weather is very bad) and I will not allow smoking in my car.....

The children's Grandma smokes a lot (40 a day) and she smells of stale smoke which the children hate, so hopefully her addiction will have put them off for life (like it did me).....

I never smoke in my own house, and I only smoke in other people's homes if they are smokers themselves and choose to smoke there. Even then, I would never smoke if children were present - they don't have a choice and I think it's grossly unfair on them.

Surely the government should do something. It seems they often focuss on things that pale into insignificance compared to endangering our children. If it is made illegal to smoke inside the house if you have children/ children are present, people are less likely to?

claire Wrote:If it is made illegal to smoke inside the house if you have children/ children are present, people are less likely to?

No, they are more likely to simply break the law.

Short of taking children away from parents at birth and returning them at 16 years of age, society has to allow parents to decide how to raise their children.

IMO the solution is to educate and encourage adults to stop smoking, by making them aware of the dangers -this has already been done and I doubt there's anyone in britain who isn't fully aware of the hazards of smoking around children. many adults still chose to smoke, despite being aware of those risks. They have that right, as adults, to decide. It has to remain their choice to stop, by informed decision, with support if necessary, rather than outlawing the problem.

Speeding is illegal. We all know how dangerous it is, yet we all chose to do it, aware of the risks we take when we do so. Banning speeding has not solved the problem, it has merely raised revenue for the government. Banning smoking in the home would have exactly the same effect IMO.

Well done Floopy, you just said what I wanted to say, but much better than I would have.

Informed choice is the best way.
I am a smoker, I do have two children, but we don't smoke in the house, we go outside. I wouldn't dream of smoking in the house, we never smoked indoors even before we had the kids.
But then again the last place we lived before the kids came along was Florida, so no real hardship in going outside there then:laugh:

I think you are right Floopy. As much as I hate smoking, there are worse things that parents could do to their children. What about parents who constantly feed their kids fast-food junk or let them sit in front of the TV 24/7, or constantly shout at them, bring them down and so on, so on.

Also I don't like the idea of the Government playing Big Brother inside our houses.

We should try to discourage people actually starting to smoke begining with young girls who seem to think it is such a cool idea to go around smelling like an old ashtray!

Bella Wrote:I think you are right Floopy. As much as I hate smoking, there are worse things that parents could do to their children. What about parents who constantly feed their kids fast-food junk or let them sit in front of the TV 24/7, or constantly shout at them, bring them down and so on, so on.

Also I don't like the idea of the Government playing Big Brother inside our houses.

We should try to discourage people actually starting to smoke begining with young girls who seem to think it is such a cool idea to go around smelling like an old ashtray!

I agree it is a personal choice to smoke... but are the children making a choice to smoke - no.

I am definately not in agreement with any of the above mentioned (feed their kids fast-food junk or let them sit in front of the TV 24/7, or constantly shout at them, bring them down and so on, so on.)

claire Wrote:I agree it is a personal choice to smoke... but are the children making a choice to smoke - no.

I am definately not in agreement with any of the above mentioned (feed their kids fast-food junk or let them sit in front of the TV 24/7, or constantly shout at them, bring them down and so on, so on.)

Claire I do agree with you, and I do think that a lot of parents do respect their children and smoke outside. I just don't know how on earth no-smoking in your own home could be policed.

And the thing with feeding your child fast-food every night to me, is just as bad but again what can be except making people more aware of healthy, quick and easy foods that you can cook and not prosecuting them for doing so. Just because you smoke or feed your kids fast-food does not necessarily make you a bad parent, these parents still love their kids. btw - I can't believe I am sort of defending smokers!! :unsure: